Amcor cuts 300 jobs

Amcor announced the company will “realign its Australian operations to the challenging conditions facing all Australian manufacturers, resulting in approximately 300 redundancies”.
Photo: Michael Clayton-Jones

Amcor
will close a bottle-top plant in Melbourne and a carton-board mill in Queensland, leading to the loss of about 300 jobs.

The move was announced the day after Prime Minister
Julia Gillard
released a $1 billion jobs plan.

Amcor Australasia managing director Nigel Garrard said on Monday that “Amcor would take steps to realign its Australian operations to the challenging conditions facing all Australian manufacturers, resulting in approximately 300 redundancies".

He blamed the high Australian dollar and the cost of energy for the decision.

“Yesterday’s announcement by the federal government to create jobs, and protect those we currently have through asking companies to consider local alternatives to their global suppliers is what we need," he said, calling on local manufacturers to help support local jobs.

“Think of your own state, think of your own country. Simply purchasing from overseas is not good enough."

“They are a little bit gob­smacked at the moment – shell-shocked, obviously concerned about their futures . . .It’s going to be difficult for them to find work elsewhere, especially in the current environment."

Victorian Premier
Ted Baillieu
said the cuts highlighted the fragility of the state’s manufacturing sector.

“We will work with the company. We have measures in place to deal with companies like that, as does the federal government. It is a national company, a large company.

“And it’s obviously a very distressing time for those who are going to lose their jobs and we’ll make sure they have all the support that’s possible."